| In this project,
students are creating their own civilizations using sixth-grade
South Carolina world history standards as they learn about
the successes and failures of ancient civilizations. Throughout
this inquiry project, Mr. Chadwell is examining the factors
that affect student motivation in an attempt to discover the
best ways to construct assignments that elicit higher student
work completion. This inquiry project is also analyzing student
motivation factors in an attempt to discover patterns relating
to race, sex, ethnicity, and student achievement.
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| One of the USC
Teacher Quality Project's newest partners is Summit Parkway
Middle School. Assistant Principal John Arnold and Context
Team Leader/social studies teacher David Chadwell are collaborating
with TQC to research motivational factors related to student
achievement. This is one of the most intriguing new projects
under the TQC Partners Project this semester. |
David Chadwell
has put together an inquiry project in which the students
in his social studies classroom are being challenged to create
their own civilizations as they learn about the great civilizations
from throughout history and the problems that they faced.
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| The students
study charts that show the basic features and political structures
of ancient civilizations in order to find out what they should
incorporate into their self-made civilizations. |
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| Next, the students have to choose a true geographic
location for their civilizations to live. The choice of a
geographic location will give the students an idea of what
they should concentrate on as far as land development and
crops that they could get to survive in the area. |
David Chadwell motivates the students to participate
in the lesson by letting them make critical decisions that
will cause their civilizations to survive or perish during
the project. This gives the students ownership in the lesson.
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| Each of the civilizations gets a chance to trade
the resources that they have accumulated with others in the
class. These are posted in the classroom and David keeps track
of these transactions in the classroom so that the students
can analyze the transactions. |
Dr. Jane Zenger, USC Teacher Quality Partners
Project Director, looks through the extensive research data
that David Chadwell has compiled on student motivation, so
far in the project. |
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| Dr. Jane Zenger and David Chadwell
discuss possibilities for the project. |
